South Indian or Carnatic musical instruments are more about percussion instruments than melody. They are best seen as the cousins of the North India instruments. Some of the popular South Indian instruments are:

Ghatam: This is an earthen clay pot which is mainly used in the classical performances.

Mridangam: This is a drum that is made of heavy wood also called during classical performances.

Tavil: This is similar to Dholak and Nagara used in the North Indian music. It is performed with the help of sticks, thimbles and tacks.

Venu: This is the larger version of Bansuri.

Tambura: This appears similar to Tanpura of the Hindustani classical instrument. The bridge is usually made of bronze unlike the bone. This is one instrument that acts as one of the backbones of the Carnatic music.

Nadaswaram: This is basically the Carnatic version of Shehnai. It terms of the appearance, this is larger and consists of two reeds unlike Shehnai’s four reeds.